Leonard recorded a career-high 25.5 points per game during the 2016/17 NBA regular season and added almost 27 points per game in 12 postseason contests before an ankle injury ended both his season and the Spurs’ NBA championship hopes.

The two-time NBA all-star is reportedly showing no ill effects from last spring’s injury as he prepares to report to Spurs training camp, but that has done little to boost San Antonio on the NBA championship odds – where the club continues to trail the favorites at a long +1200.

Leonard leads an elite group at the top of the NBA MVP odds, with four-time winner LeBron James closely trailing at +450, followed by Kevin Durant at +550, and reigning MVP Russell Westbrook at +600.

James last won MVP honors in 2013 as a member of the Miami Heat and finished fourth in NBA MVP balloting last season after tallying 26.4 points per game and leading his Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals for a third straight year.

Selected as NBA MVP in 2014, Durant enjoyed an enormously successful campaign in his first year with Golden State, notching 25.1 points per game, and earned NBA Finals MVP honors after racking up 35.2 points per game in the Finals, powering the Warriors to their second NBA championship in three years.

Westbrook Coming Off NBA Scoring Title

Westbrook managed to get along just fine in his first season in Oklahoma City without former teammate Kevin Durant. The six-time all-star won his second NBA scoring title while recording a triple-double on the season with 31.6 points per game, 10.7 rebounds per game, and 10.4 assists per game.

The addition of Carmelo Anthony in a recent deal with the New York Knicks further bolsters Oklahoma City as an offensive force, lifting the Thunder alongside San Antonio on the NBA championship odds at +1200.

Further down the MVP odds, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo joins Houston’s James Harden at +1000. Two-time MVP Stephen Curry of Golden State is knotted with Boston’s Kyrie Irving at +1200, followed by Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans at +1800.